Typically items placed in single or multi-level toolboxes, kits, and assembly jigs are free to move about within the drawers with no form of support or restraint. The process of outlining the items for the purpose of manufacturing foam insert restraints for these kits has traditionally been performed by hand. The item outlines were traced onto paper and scanned into a computer or the outlines were manually cut, burned, or melted directly into the foam inserts for the kit drawers. These labor-intensive methods resulted in rough edges and frequent errors induced by the multi-step manual process. Due to the amount of labor involved in producing foam inserts in these ways, the cost of restraining the items by foaming a standard kit was traditionally very high.
The present invention relates to a process of manufacturing foam inserts for item containers used by machine shops, aerospace assembly plants, garages, and military bases; specifically a reliable, quick, and automated means of manufacturing durable layered inserts for use in tools kits and component assemblies. Inserts for the drawers are formed using the methods described in the present invention to produce precise outlines of the item's shapes. The outlines, or silhouettes, of these shapes are computer generated from a digital photograph of the items, then machined using proprietary software into a variety of foam materials as cutouts, or pockets, and backed with thin rigid plastic known as the backing. The assembled foam inserts provide for inventory control, ease of use, foreign object damage control, and at a glance item replacement. Using the methods described in the present invention, inserts for new and/or existing items to be stocked in the kits and assemblies can be quickly manufactured from common digital photographs of the items.
The foam inserts produced by this manufacturing process are unique from the ‘tool holders’ described in the referenced U.S. Pat. No. 7,410,053 B2 (Bowen et al), in that the foam inserts produced by the current invention are marked within the pocket and not adjacent to the pocket, the inserts have no clear layers, and the item cutouts extend completely through all layers except the backing. Additionally, the novel software and methods presented herein are used in the manufacturing of the foam inserts.